Managing the ExtremeXOS Software

The ExtremeXOS software platform is a distributed software architecture.

The distributed architecture consists of separate binary images organized into discrete software modules with messaging between them. The software and system infrastructure subsystem form the basic framework of how the ExtremeXOS applications interact with each other, including the system startup sequence, memory allocation, and error events handling. Redundancy and data replication is a built-in mechanism of ExtremeXOS. The system infrastructure provides basic redundancy support and libraries for all of the ExtremeXOS applications.

Note

Note

For information about downloading and upgrading a new software image, saving configuration changes, and upgrading the BootROM, see Software Upgrade and Boot Options.

Like any advanced operating system, ExtremeXOS gives you the tools to manage your switch and create your network configurations.

With the introduction of ExtremeXOS, the following enhancements and functionality have been added to the switch operating system:
  • File system administration
  • Configuration file management
  • Process control
  • Memory protection
File system administration With the enhanced file system, you can move, copy, and delete files from the switch. The file system structure allows you to keep, save, rename, and maintain multiple copies of configuration files on the switch. In addition, you can manage other entities of the switch such as policies and access control lists (ACLs).
Configuration file management With the enhanced configuration file management, you can oversee and manage multiple configuration files on your switch. In addition, you can upload, download, modify, and name configuration files used by the switch.
Process control With process control, you can stop and start processes, restart failed processes, and update the software for a specific process or set of processes.
Memory protection With memory protection, each function can be bundled into a single application module running as a memory protected process under real-time scheduling. In essence, ExtremeXOS protects each process from every other process in the system. If one process experiences a memory fault, that process cannot affect the memory space of another process.

The following sections describe in more detail how to manage the ExtremeXOS software.